Telescope Help

Well i have just recently received a meade 2114 atts reflector. I used it last Night and it seemed a bit complicated. I put it in the home postion and then let the autostar thing search and it either pointed at the ground or in a dark spot in the sky. It may have been the clouds but it seems i cant work this thing. Any advice would be appreciated

Staff: Mentor

I owned one of those for about two weeks before I decided I wanted much more. It did, however, work very well for me.

First off, did you enter your location into the Autostar controller? The correct time and date? Hopefully, this isn't an insulting question, but you didn't put the tube on backwards, did you (I think I might have when I first assembled mine)?

Edit: also, I'd recommend getting a good planetarium program (Starry Night) and a good book (Field Guide to the Night Sky) so you know what you should be trying to look at and to help you learn. To start with, however, your best bets are the moon, Jupiter (southwest right after sunset) and Venus (West, low, right after sunset).